Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-05-28
BEAUTIFUL WORK m IVORY.
0sdcrn SKIN Turn IL Into Artistic
Carvings for Household Decoration.

Usdern skm Turns Il Into Artistic
Carvings for Household Decoration.
The artistic use of ivory Is becoming so
general that nearly every well arranged
room has n or more pieces OF work
carved entirely out Of or inlaid with this
beautiful substance. Appreciation Of the
effects which artistic furnishers make out
Of ivory carvings has received a sincere
impulse, and an aesthetic cultivation re
Gently by expositions not only in our
American museums but in the brio q
brac establishments, where good imita-
tons of classical carvings are placed on
exhibition. Formerly miniature sculp-
lures, Of fine execution and beautiful de-
Sign. were to be seen in all the principal
museums in Europe and America, but
the price at which they were valued
made it impossible for ivory carvings to
be used generally as household decora-
tons.
With improved methods of carving
came a more general demand for small
ivory figures which could be used as or
naments, and, as a result. the subjects
became more varied and less conven-
tional. The carvings were no longer
confined to attempts to reproduce the
classical works of the ancients, but repre-
sented every phase of the present life.
We now have beautiful toilet articles
with carvings Of flowers and arabesque;
baskets Of ivory worthy to inclose gems;
little statues of genre designs; birds and
geyhounds and miniature figures of hui
mainly. Striking groups and scenes
from life are carved out of the white
substance, and the whole imlaid with
differently covered ivory, which gives
the picture a realistic and beautiful ap
pearance.
The more delicate carvings have. to be
executed by a trained hand and an artis-
tic eye. Many women are employed in
this work, especially in the ivory manu-
factories Of Europe, where they are paid
good wages for their labor. The rougher
work, such as making billiard balls, rings
for harness and ivory handles, is done en-
tively by machinery, but since the de-
mand for fine household ornaments has
grown so steadily, a large number of
gifted women have been given employ
ment in the manufactures to do the fine
polishing and dies igning. The ivory used
is taken not only from Africa and Asia
and the fossil mammoth of Siberia, but
also from the horns of the hippopotamus,
the tusks Of the walrus and the sword Of
the narwhale.
The grain Of the several kinds differs
very materially, and in proportion to the
delicateness Of the lines is the price paid
for il. The elephant tusk is the finest
specimen Of ivory. When the tusks are
brought into the workshop they are cut
In shapes necessary for carving by
machinery. The objects are designed
beforehand, and a suitable piece is cut
from the sheet at one turn of the wheel.
These pieces are then taken by the artists,
who design and polish them until fash
Toned ready for the store. The carvers
sit at long desks facing windows Of light,
and they use salt and water beneath the
touch of their fine tools. The polishing
is accomplishing upon wheels or ''buffs'
covered with Canton flannel, and there
are watts Of colored liquid for staining
tints. When the carving is finally
finished il represents exquisite work.
New York Mail and Express.